With most modern businesses relying on computing resources for business efficiency and competitive advantage, it is imperative that key employees have access to the type of computing equipment required to effectively execute their jobs. In today's information technology (IT) environment, keeping employee computer systems running at an optimal level is a challenge that occupies many people. The problems inherent in this challenge are that of either over-allocation or under-allocation of resources to specific employees.
Over-allocation may be illustrated by the case where a “top of the line” new computer system is delivered to a new employee with little need for the hardware or software he or she has been assigned. By providing a cutting-edge system to an entry-level employee with need for little more than email functionality, the corporation or issuing entity has effectively wasted money and has mismanaged important business resources. In such over-allocation, the company may be delivering a $2,000 system to an employee whose needs may be met by a $500 system or through reuse of an older, “surplus” system.
Under-allocation creates productivity problems as well as other more subtle problems. For example, the issuance of a low-end system to a customer-facing marketing executive creates a problem with perceived corporate competence by the customer. One can easily imagine a case where such an executive delivers a presentation before an important client and that client is unimpressed by the poor performance of the computer system and the delivery of the presentation. Consequently, under-allocation has the possible business impact of lost revenue and client goodwill. Similarly, a developer with significant computational needs may be assigned, an old, outdated system. In doing so, he or she may be forced to endure very long compile times or computational modeling times with a business impact of wasted productivity and delays to market.
Keeping employee computer systems running in optimum condition also comprises trading available resources with a corporate budget. As employees experience difficulties with computers, the issue becomes whether to repair or replace the system. A further issue is the need to objectively prioritize computing resource needs to best maximize company performance and productivity. Currently, corporate policies regarding computing resource replacement require replacement based on life of the computing resource. However, an employee that is using a computer at full capacity may experience substantial performance degradation long before the replacement cycle provides a new computing resource. Conversely, an employee using a computing resource in a minimal fashion may be able to use the same computing resource longer than the replacement cycle indicates.
Currently, performance issues are resolved when an employee contacts their manager or a corporate help desk and complains about poor system performance. An IT staff member then typically looks at the system and attempts to determine if a problem exists. After a lengthy process, a repair, upgrade, or replacement option may be pursued. This process can become very burdensome, particularly in environments where many users and computers exist. Meanwhile, the employee is experiencing a reduction in productivity while dealing with inadequate performance from their computer.
What is therefore needed is a system, a service, a computer program product, and an associated method to monitor the performance of computation resources and objectively distribute important computing resources on the basis of computer resources need, job functions, and responsibilities. The need for such solution has heretofore remained unsatisfied.